Cantilevered booth construction

ABSTRACT

A booth having two facing booths and an intermediate table which table is supported from a beam extending between the booth supporting frames by means of a demountable cantilever assembly. The construction includes a free standing divider panel bolted to the beam and the demountable cantilever structure and a special floor to foot anchoring tab.

United States Patent 11 1 Nielsen 1 Nov. 12, 1974 1 1 CANTILEVERED BOOTHCONSTRUCTION [76] inventor: Harold R. Nielsen, 615 Centennial Dr.,Kenyon, Minn. 55946 221 Filed: Jan. 2, 1973 211 Appl. No.: 320,303

521 11.5.0 ..297/158, 108/152 511 int. (:1 547b 3 9100 58 Field ofSearch 297/135, 157, 158, 170,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,429,939 9/1922 Eichman297/158 1,656,812 1/1928 Balko et a1 297/157 X 2,478,118 8/1949 Mills297/157 X 3,260,489 7/1966 Hentzi... 248/215 3,386,591 6/1968 Cassel248/1889 X 4 1971 Von Pongracz 108/152 x 3,574,394 3,653,624 4/1972 Abel248/215 X D183,814 10/1958 Scott 297/158 X FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 100,197 0/1940 Sweden 248/1889 656,219 0/1951 Great Britain248/235 Primary Examiner-Roy D. Frazier Assistant Examiner-Wil1iam E.Lyddane Attorney, Agent, or FirmNeil B. Schulte [5 7 1 ABSTRACT A boothhaving two facing booths and an intermediate table which table issupported from a beam extending between the booth supporting frames bymeans of a demountable cantilever assembly. The construction includes afree standing divider panel bolted to the beam and the demountablecantilever structure and a special floor to foot anchoring tab.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CANTILEVERED BOOTH CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUNDOFTHE- INVENTION In the prior art, booth structuresare generallymanufactured at a remote facility and shipped to the installationlocation where they must be assembled in place. It is desirabletherefore to provide a type of booth structure which can be easilybroken down for shipmentand later assembled with a minimum of labor andtime consumed. Also it is desirable to have the table supported by meansof the same structure which supports the booth so as to avoid having toprovide special floor mounts to support the table. It would also bedesirable if the table supporting structure does not interfere with theleg space between the booths. Yet another advantageous feature wouldbethe provision of means to segregate the various booth structureswithout the necessity of permanently emplaced walls. My inventionprovides a booth structure which accomplishes all of the-above describedadvantages. In addition; various other advantages are afforded bymyinventionas will be described hereinafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, my invention contemplates a singlewelded tube framework for supporting two oppositely facing booths. Asingle cross beam connects the two booths together at one end of'the'booths.-'The-table is cantilevered up from this cross beam so thatno supports are necessary between the booths leaving a generous thebooth to segregate it from other similar booths."

Since the booth is completely self contained it may be moved about asdesired or anchored to thefloor ;by 7

means of a special foot anchoring tab which is described in detaillater: Itmay therefore'be seen 'thatit is an object of myinvention-toprovidean improved booth structure which, because ofspecially designed demountable cantileverstructure can *beeasilyinstalled and assembled with a minimum of laborand time cost.Further objects and adva'ntageswill become apparent upon considerationof the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view' of thecompleted booth of my'invention.

FIGJ2 is a perspective'detail view-of the detachable cantilever bracket"showing the detailed structure thereof. I

FIG. 3 is a perspective'view of the-bench supporting framework structureshowinghow the detachable can including the free standing divider panelused to segregate the booth from other booths.

FIG. Sis a simplified side elevation of the apparatus of FIG. 3 showingin particular the special floor mounting tab used to-locate the booth.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1 the completedconstruction of my booth is shown in perspective. A pair of bench seats10 and 12 are shown supported on the framework. Generally, bench seats10 and 12 comprise preformed molded seats constructed from laminatedlayers of wood and plastic in a manner well known to those skilled inthe art. The framework consists essentially of four legs l4, l6, l8 and20 which extend downward from a pair of generally rectangular frames 22and 24. Rectangular frames 22and24 are connected together at one oftheir narrow ends by means of a main cross beam 26. A table 28 issupported on a demountable caantilever bracket assembly shown generallyby arrow 30 which bracket assembly is described in greater detail withrespect to 36 are a pair of vertical supports 38 and40. Verticalsupports 38 and 40 are connected together by a specially shapedbracket'42which has a vertical portion 44 designed to be welded tovertical supports 38 and 40.

Bracket 42 also has a horizontal portion'46 designed to rest on top ofcross beam 26 as will be described later and a'hooked retainingportion48' designed to fit over theback of the cross beam 26. A diagonalbrace 50 extends between bracket 42 and table support arm 34.

Table-28 is secured. to the top of the arm 34 and bracket 36 byscrews-inserted through variousholes 52 provided inbracket'36andarm 34.It should be noted at this point that the-use of a detachable cantileverassembly permits the table top to be positioned on a convenientsurface-while detachable bracket 30 is fastened to the under side oftable top 28 with screws through holes52. This obviates the-tediousprior art task of having to crawl underneath .the nearly assembled.booth structure and fasten "the table top down with screws insertedfrom underneath .the table top. Detachable cantilever assembly bracket-30 can easily be fastened-to table top '28 and then simply dropped intoplace on -the framework asshown-withrespect to FIG-3.

' In FIG. '3 the bench supporting framework is shown in perspective.lt-maybe seen that the generally rectangular frames 22 and 24.are formedfrom long members numbered 54,- 55,56 and 57;.which are connectedtogether at their outsideends byshort members 58 and 59. Long members'54 55, 56 and '57 are weldedzdirectly to crossbeam 26-with the legs 14,16, 18 and'20 welded in at vthecorners as shown-The detachablecantilever bracket assembly "30' simply slides over cross beam26 asshownin FlGi3 with horizontal portion:46

on bracket'42 resting onutop .of cross beam 26. The

smallhook-orlip48 extendsoverithe back side of cross member 26- whilethetwo verticalmembers 38 and 40 extend down alongthefront side of crossbeam 26 so as to anchor. the-detachable cantilever bracket assembly 30firmly in place. Returning momentarily to FIG. 2 it may be seen thatvertical members 38 and 40 are provided with small holes 60 throughwhich bolts may be inserted into corresponding holes in cross beam 26 soas to permanently anchor bracket assembly 30 in place with a minimum oftime and effort.

A portion of the assembled framework of FIG. 3 is shown in anelevational side view in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4 it may readily be seen howbracket 42 on the detachable cantilever bracket assembly 30 slides downsnugly over cross beam 26. To provide privacy from other booths adivider panel 32 may be mounted in a pair of holes 62. (Holes 62 aremounted visible in FIG. 2) In FIG. 4 it may be seen that free standingdivider panel 32 may be molunted directly to the framework assembly bymeans of two pairs of extension rods 64 and 66. Each extension rod 64 isscrewed directly into divider panel 32 and locked in place by means of anut 67. The other end of rod 64 is threaded and inserted through one ofthe holes 62 in angle bracket 36. The rod is secured in place by meansof a pair of nuts 68 and 69. A similar extension rod 64 is of courseused for the other hole 62 in angle bracket 36 and fastened in-a similarmanner. At the lower end of divider panel 32, extension rod 66 issurrounded by a spacer 70. Rod 66 is screwed into panel 32 in the samemanner as described earlier and locked in place with a nut 71. The otherend of rod 66 is then inserted through suitable holes provided either incross beam 26 or legs 14 and 18 and secured in place by means of a nutand washer combination 72. The diagonally braced detachable cantileverbracket assembly 30 is not only strong enough to support table top 28but also quite adequate to support a free standing divider panel 32 suchas shown in FIG. 4.

Since the booth need not be secured to a wall and is provided with itsown privacy panel it can stand alone if desired. Thus, additionalstructure is provided on the booth to secure it in place on the floor sothat it will not inadvertantly slide around. This structure is shown inFIG. 5.

In FIG. the general framework construction is shown in anotherelevational side view which is not cut away. Small details are omittedfor clarity. The primary purpose of FIG. 5 is to show the foot mountinganchor assembly. It is known to provide leveling feet comprising aplastic or rubber foot 80 connected by means of a threaded rod 81 to athreaded hole in a block 82 which block is welded or crimped into a legmember such as leg 20. In the embodiment of the present invention foot80 is additionally provided with a tab 85 extending therefrom which isprovided with a hole to accept a screw 87 which screw can be insertedinto a special floor imbedded plastic anchor 88 of a construction wellknown to those skilled in the art. Tab 85 provides a dual function inthat it not only secures the entire booth from being moved aroundunnecessarily but also insures that foot 80 may not be rotated so as tochange the height and leveling adjustment of the booth. Foot anchorconstructions suchas shown in FIG. 5 may, if desired, be used on allfour of the legs although it is shown only on leg 20 for clarity.

Clearly then, my invention provides an improved booth construction whichis easy to assemble, thus, saving time and money, and which does notrequire extensive modification at the installation site in order toaccommodate the booth. The booth provides its own privacy panel and itsown floor anchoring mechanism thus further minimizing any alterationsnecessary in the establishment in which the booth is installed. Ofcourse a number of minor deviations from the particular constructionaldetails shown could be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention and thus the following. claims are intended to coveronly the patentable innovations of my invention.

I claim:

1. A booth assembly comprising in combination:

a pair of benches;

a pair of generally rectangular frames, each of said frames supportingone of said benches and each of said frames having two legs extendingdownward from the portion of the frame supporting the rear of the bench,said frames connected together at their narrow ends by a single crossbeam so as to support the benches in a generally parallel facingrelationship; table positioned between the benches;

a cantilevered bracket assembly for supporting said table, said bracketassembly comprising a first table supporting generally horizontal memberextending generally perpendicular from a second table supportinggenerally horizontal member, two vertical support members extendingdownward from said second table supporting member to a positionalongside the cross beam, and a diagonal brace extending from said firsttable supporting member to a fastening bracket connected between saidtwo vertical support members, said fastening bracket shaped to fit oversaid cross beam in a position to hold the table generally level, saidfastening bracket comprising a horizontal portion shaped to rest on topof the cross beam and a flanged portion shaped to fit around the back ofthe cross beam on the side opposite from said vertical members.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including a privacy panel mounted to saidcantilevered bracket assembly and said cross beam.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 including at least one threaded verticallyadjustable foot mounted in the bottom of said frame structures, saidfoot having a tab extending generally horizontally therefrom adaptedtobe secured to the floor.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 including at least one threaded verticallyadjustable foot mounted in the bottom of said frame structures, saidfoot having a tab extending generally horizontally therefrom adapted tobe secured to the floor.

1. A booth assembly comprising in combination: a pair of benches; a pairof generally rectangular frames, each of said frames supporting one ofsaid benches and each of said frames having two legs extending downwardfrom the portion of the frame supporting the rear of the bench, saidframes connected together at their narrow ends by a single cross beam soas to support the benches in a generally parallel facing relaTionship; atable positioned between the benches; a cantilevered bracket assemblyfor supporting said table, said bracket assembly comprising a firsttable supporting generally horizontal member extending generallyperpendicular from a second table supporting generally horizontalmember, two vertical support members extending downward from said secondtable supporting member to a position alongside the cross beam, and adiagonal brace extending from said first table supporting member to afastening bracket connected between said two vertical support members,said fastening bracket shaped to fit over said cross beam in a positionto hold the table generally level, said fastening bracket comprising ahorizontal portion shaped to rest on top of the cross beam and a flangedportion shaped to fit around the back of the cross beam on the sideopposite from said vertical members.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1including a privacy panel mounted to said cantilevered bracket assemblyand said cross beam.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 including at least onethreaded vertically adjustable foot mounted in the bottom of said framestructures, said foot having a tab extending generally horizontallytherefrom adapted to be secured to the floor.
 4. The apparatus of claim2 including at least one threaded vertically adjustable foot mounted inthe bottom of said frame structures, said foot having a tab extendinggenerally horizontally therefrom adapted to be secured to the floor.